92 nuclear launch officers now eyed in cheating scandal

This mockup of a Minuteman nuclear missile is used for training of nuclear-weapons crews.

This mockup of a Minuteman nuclear missile is used for training of...

WASHINGTON — Top Air Force officials described a persistent culture of “undue stress and fear” that led 92 of 550 nuclear launch officers to be involved in cheating on a monthly proficiency test on which they felt pressured to get perfect scores to get promoted.

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Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Thursday that at Malmstrom AFB in Montana, roughly half the 183 missile launch officers have been implicated in the cheating.

The cheating scandal is the latest in an array of troubles that now have the attention of senior defense officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The Associated Press began reporting on the issue nine months ago, revealing serious security lapses, low morale, burn- out and other issues in the nuclear force.

The Air Force recently announced the cheating scandal that grew out of a drug investigation.

But James and Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, who heads Global Strike Command, insisted the failures haven't affected the safety of the military's nuclear mission.

James and Wilson said the cheating apparently was confined to the Montana base.

“These tests have taken on, in their eyes, such high importance, that they feel that anything less than 100 could well put their entire career in jeopardy” even though they only need a score of 90 to pass, said James, who only recently took over as secretary. “They have come to believe that these tests are make-it-or-break-it.”

The launch officers didn't cheat to pass the test, “they cheated because they felt driven to get 100 percent,” she said.

Of the 92 officers implicated so far, as many as 40 were involved directly in the cheating, Wilson said. Others may have known about it but didn't report it.

Separately, James said an investigation into drug possession by officers at several Air Force bases now involves 13 airmen, two more than initially announced.

All 92 officers have been decertified and suspended while the scandal is being investigated, meaning other launch officers and staff must fill in, performing 10 24-hour shifts per month, instead of the usual eight, Wilson said.

Staff members from the 20th Air Force, which oversees all the nuclear missile force, also are being tapped to do shifts.

The Air Force has 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, on alert at all times.

Each day, a total of 90 officers work in pairs inside 45 underground launch control centers, with each center monitoring and controlling a group of 10 ICBMs. They work 24-hour shifts in the missile field and then return to their base.

The latest scandal set off a top-level search for solutions, including a recent round of visits by James to all the nuclear bases, where she met privately with small groups of airmen to get their insights into the problems.

James and Wilson said the problems underscore the need for new testing and training procedures, to provide more incentives and rewards for those who perform well, and to set up a system that looks at more than test scores when evaluating officers.